The legal issues surrounding the on-set shooting on the film Rust took another turn this week when the person who supplied the guns for the movie filed a lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and other leading members of the film’s team.
According to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, Seth Kenney, owner of PDQ Arm & Prop, filed a lawsuit on October 22nd in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The lawsuit names Alec Baldwin, and the estate and husband, Matthew Hutchins, of the late Halyna Hutchins.
The lawsuit filed by Kenney also includes Rust’s production company, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and received an 18-month prison sentence), and other producers and crew members involved in the film.
Kenney’s lawsuit alleges that Baldwin and others unfairly blamed him for the accidental shooting on the set of ‘Rust,’ which resulted in the death of Halyna Hutchins and injuries to director Joel Souza, damaging his professional standing.
Representatives for Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed declined to comment.
The Daily Mail reached out to representatives for both Hutchins and Kenney for a statement, but they haven’t responded yet.
Alec Baldwin was holding the gun that fired during rehearsal, but he maintains he didn’t pull the trigger. He says he was assured the gun didn’t have any real bullets in it.
Gutierrez-Reed, who was paroled in May, is currently appealing her conviction.
Kenney’s shop supplied the Colt .45 revolver that eventually killed Hutchins.
Kenney told Variety that the shooting and everything that happened afterward had been incredibly damaging to his career.
Honestly, hearing him say it felt like a huge weight lifted, even though what he was admitting was awful. He wasn’t worried about what people thought anymore – he said there was nothing left to worry about. He was so frustrated, and it finally came out that he felt like he’d been unfairly blamed for everything that went wrong. It was brutal, but it felt…real. He just laid it all out there, admitting the whole situation was a disaster and he’d been made to take the fall.
According to his lawsuit, film studios have stopped hiring him since the shooting on the set of Rust.
In a recent legal document, Kenney strongly criticized Hollywood ‘fixers’ and the media, claiming they’ve caused him substantial financial losses, both in the past and potentially in the future.
He further stated that the defendants worked with YouTubers and online harassers to damage his reputation. Kenney also expressed hope that the legal process would reveal details about Baldwin supposedly using media consultants to influence public opinion.
So far, investigators haven’t been able to figure out how live bullets ended up in the gun before Alec Baldwin received it.
Kenney alleged that the defendants tried to falsely portray him as someone to blame for the shooting, launching a nationwide smear campaign to distract from their own potential culpability and avoid consequences.
He stated that the defendants used his gun rental business to make money, despite knowing it was wrong.
Matthew Hutchins, who previously sued Alec Baldwin and the film’s producers (and later settled the case), stated that standard safety procedures weren’t followed on the set of Rust. He wasn’t originally involved with the production himself, but his late wife had worked on the film before she passed away.
I was really glad to hear that after the lawsuit, Hutchins was given an executive producer credit on the film. It felt like a fair resolution, acknowledging his contributions and ensuring he got the recognition he deserved.
Kenney claims Gutierrez-Reed brought the live ammunition onto the set, ultimately loading it into the gun.
According to Kenney, Hannah was the first to cause trouble, and everyone else followed, ignoring the rules.
Kenney stated she believed her practice ammunition had been accidentally combined with real .45 Colt bullets she used for personal target practice while working as an armorer on the Nicolas Cage film, ‘The Old Way’.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence indicating Gutierrez-Reed may have brought a batch of practice rounds – dangerously mixed with live ammunition from a previous movie, ‘The Old Way’ – to the set of ‘Rust’ while working as the armorer.
According to Gutierrez-Reed’s statement to police after the shooting, she got the blank rounds used on the film ‘The Old Way’ from Kenney.
She filed a lawsuit against the firearms supplier in 2022, but it was later withdrawn.
Kenney first told police he possibly gave Hannah Gutierrez-Reed the ammunition used on the movie set, but later stated in court that her father, Thell Reed—the film’s armorer—was actually the one who provided the bullets.
He recently told Variety it took him some time to realize he’d never actually owned that specific box of ammunition.
Last December, the company that supplied the firearm filed a lawsuit against the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, claiming they intentionally misled the court to get a search warrant for the business.
The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment at the time, and the case is still ongoing.
Kenney is suing Baldwin after Baldwin himself sued the film’s armorer and other crew members in 2022, claiming they were responsible for unsafe conditions on set.
According to Alec Baldwin, the shooting happened because real bullets were mistakenly brought onto the movie set and put into the prop gun. However, the legal case about the incident was ultimately resolved out of court.
On October 21, 2021, a gun used as a prop by Alec Baldwin accidentally fired on the set of the movie Rust in New Mexico. The shot tragically killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.
Look, the whole situation was incredibly tragic, and I want to be clear: I never pulled the trigger. I was assured the gun didn’t have any live rounds, and thankfully, the involuntary manslaughter charge against me was dropped permanently this past July. It’s been a difficult time, and I’m glad that part is finally behind me.
On October 21, 2021, a prop gun held by Alec Baldwin accidentally fired on the set of the movie Rust, tragically killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding the film’s director, Joel Souza. Baldwin stated the shooting was unintentional and that he didn’t pull the trigger.
Following the death of Halyna Hutchins, Alec Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023.
Initially, the charges against him were dismissed in April. However, in January 2024, he was charged again, this time with involuntary manslaughter.
The judge dismissed all charges against the defendant three days into his trial, which began on July 9, 2024. This decision came after the judge found that prosecutors had acted unfairly by withholding evidence – specifically, bullets found during the investigation that could have helped prove his innocence.
The lawsuit alleges that while acting in their official capacities, the defendants worked together to unfairly obtain an indictment against Baldwin and intentionally pushed forward with his trial and conviction, violating his constitutional rights by misusing the legal system.
The defendants consistently tried to blame Baldwin for the mistakes and actions of other people, even when the evidence and legal principles didn’t support it.
Honestly, it just kills me that they’re suing Kari Morrissey, the Special Prosecutor, and Mary Carmack-Altwies, the District Attorney here in Santa Fe! And not just them, but the actual investigators from the Sheriff’s Office too! It’s unbelievable, they’re dragging everyone involved into this mess. I’m so frustrated for them, they were just doing their jobs!
This happened shortly after the district attorney decided not to fight a court ruling that had dropped the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin.
In December, Morrissey dropped her attempt to reinstate the charges against Baldwin related to the death of Hutchins.
Following today’s ruling, Alec Baldwin’s lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, stated that the dismissal of the appeal confirms what they’ve maintained all along: while the shooting was a terrible tragedy, Alec Baldwin did not commit a crime. They also expressed their satisfaction that the legal process worked as it should in New Mexico.
By dropping the appeal, the court confirmed Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer’s mid-trial decision to dismiss the case. This dismissal stemmed from claims that the police and prosecutors had hidden evidence from the defense.
Okay, so the prosecutors said this ammo that showed up at the sheriff’s office back in March didn’t matter to the whole Baldwin thing – totally unrelated, they claimed. But honestly, I’ve been following this SO closely, and Baldwin’s lawyers are saying the investigators deliberately hid it! ‘Buried’ the evidence, they said in court. It feels like they’re trying to cover something up, and it makes me so mad! It’s like, why would they hide something if it really wasn’t important? I need to know what was in that ammo!
As a long-time follower of this case, I remember Judge Sommer explaining that dismissing it was the only thing the court could do, given the problems. It was truly a frustrating situation, and the Judge made it clear the court simply couldn’t fix what had happened.
The judge stated that because this evidence wasn’t found until late in the process, it has made the trial unfair.
Local prosecutors stated that ongoing attempts to fairly and thoroughly pursue the case have been repeatedly blocked, hindering their ability to fully enforce the law.
Alec Baldwin, who was both starring in and producing the film Rust, was holding a gun during a rehearsal when it unexpectedly fired. The shot killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
After the case was thrown out, Baldwin regained some of his position in Hollywood.
He recently told David Duchovny on the Fail Better podcast that he’s optimistic about his career making a comeback, which is especially welcome news because he has seven children.
He also expressed relief that many details of the case remain unknown, since it never went to a full trial. The judge ended the case, dismissing it permanently, and he believes she made a well-considered decision.
If the case had gone to trial and a jury reached a verdict, that would have been preferable. A jury would have had the chance to review all the evidence we gathered, but now that the case is settled, that information won’t be presented.
However, the judge had already sentenced Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the weapons supervisor on the film, to the full 18 months in prison after she was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Halyna Hutchins.
According to the district attorney’s office, state law required the New Mexico attorney general to continue the appeal, but they chose not to fully pursue it for the prosecution.
Prosecutors claim Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for accidentally bringing live bullets onto the Rust movie set, despite a strict rule against them, and for not following standard firearm safety procedures.
She was released from prison in May on parole.
David Halls, the assistant director and safety coordinator, accepted a plea deal in which he didn’t admit guilt but was still sentenced for the negligent use of a firearm. He received six months of unsupervised probation. This type of plea is treated as a guilty verdict when determining the sentence.
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2025-11-01 03:21